She stared down at the stain on her gown, her bottom lip trembling.
“Don’t worry, I brought extra.” Nicholas reached into his jacket pocket and removed another vial.
The soft clinks when he moved betrayed that he had grabbed the entire batch of five potions. He uncorked the second one, and this time Lenora took it.
She downed it in a single gulp.
Next to her, Abigail’s eyes narrowed. “Your dress is ruined. You really are cursed.”
Lenora blinked slowly, looked down at her gown, and yawned. The recipe Sadie had given Jane had been the simplest calming potion she knew. It was easier to brew a potion that relied on soporific properties to relax a person than one that soothed while keeping the imbiber alert.
Knowing exactly what had gone into this particular potion, Sadie rose from her seat and moved around the table, offering a hand to Lenora. She had to stop tracing the glyph on her amulet, but she could last long enough to help Lenora. “Come on, why don’t I help you up to your room. I think a bit of rest is exactly what you need.”
Lenora stumbled to her feet. “Can demons attack in dreams?”
“No,” Sadie said firmly, though in truth she knew very little about demon capabilities. She knew they were non-corporeal, needing a host to act in the physical world, and that was it. Which meant that they could very well be masters of nightmares. But Lenora didn’t need to hear that. She wasn’t haunted by a demon or cursed.
The bat, Sadie couldn’t explain, but as for the rest, the only force acting against Lenora had been Abigail.
???
After the incidentat supper, only Nicholas, his mother, Abigail, and Sadie made it to the parlor for the evening. He was honestly surprised to see Sadie. She had looked pale through most of the meal, and he had assumed she would have retired for the night after helping Lenora to her room.
But Sadie was stronger than that. She made it back to the dining room just as Jane announced she was going to spend a few more hours in the brewing room before bed and Helen declared she was too tired to socialize. Beatrice hadn’t said anything and simply followed the others out of the room.
His mother had wasted no time ushering him, Abigail, and Sadie to the parlor at that point, clearly afraid all her guests—or more likely her son—would disappear after that.
During the short walk between rooms, Nicholas made a plan. He couldn’t handle another hour of Abigail.
The instant they reached the parlor, he placed his hand on the small of Sadie’s back and gently propelled her toward the corner of the room with the chess set before anyone could so much as sigh in relief at leaving the drama of supper behind.
“Play chess with me?” he begged softly, not trying to hide his desperation an iota.
“Are you trying to escape your mother or Abigail?”
“Maybe I just want to play with you.”
Sadie snorted. “Both of them, then.”
He was relieved to see she had color in her cheeks once more. Whatever had subdued her at supper had passed.
They reached the circular table with the highly polished chess set. “Light or dark?”
“Dark, but I don’t know how to play.”
Nicholas sat behind the side of the board lined with pale sandalwood pieces as Sadie sat opposite him behind the ebony ones. It left him facing the rest of the room, which hadn’t happened during his other games, as the women had all chosen the light side.
He raised a brow. “Who are you avoiding looking at, Abigail or my mother?”
She smirked. “Maybe I just want to look at you.”
“Both of them, then?”
She laughed. “No, I have no issues with Madeleine.” She lowered her voice. “But if we switched sides, Abigail would glare at me all evening without fear of you seeing that she isn’t all sweetness and smiles.”
“I never thought she was any sweetness, and her smiles make me shudder.” Nicholas picked up a pawn, rolling it between his fingers, but didn’t start explaining how to play. “It’s a good thing you knew a calming potion that Jane could make. Pretending to copy it out of a grimoire was smart. Oh, and feelfree to talk normally; I cast an aural ward around us. No one will hear what we say.”
Sadie looked from side to side. “Why can’t I see it? The wards you cast in the forest were visible, even the one the other day which wasn’t as solid.”
